Various electronic components have extending projecting pins or connecting wires arranged for connection to printed circuit boards, for example by manual or automatic insertion. To precisely position these elements, it has been proposed to form them with a circumferential ring-shaped bead. Such beads are usually made by dipping the connecting wire into a bath of molten tin and providing for controlled cooling thereof so that the tin which adheres to the wire will form a bead in the form of a circumferential, laterally extending ring (see German Disclosure Document DE-OS 2346340).
It has also been proposed--see German Utility Model Patent DE-GM 7709932--to form the lower side of the bead in the shape of a cone, for example by deformation of the pin, and to dip the entire assembly excluding the cone but up to the cone into an encapsulating compound surrounding the circuit element and the pin or wire up to the upper surface of the bead, the latter thus forming a limit stop for the encapsulating compound by dipping.
It has been found that, if such a connection pin with a bead thereon is inserted into an opening of a printed circuit board, the bead will provide a tight seat against the upper side of the printed circuit board. It has been found that, in spite of care and tight seating, the solder connection between such a pin and the metallized surface on the printed circuit board or other substrate may not be perfect, and "cold solder" joints may occur.